1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary switch assembly for an air conditioner in a vehicle, and more particularly, to a rotary switch assembly for an air conditioner in a vehicle, in which detent means is mounted on a holder joined to a front housing to mount a knob on the holder, so that a cable switch assembly for operating a cable to control the air conditioner can be used to various switches in common without regard to existence and nonexistence of a detent structure or positions of the detent structure and the rotary switch assembly can prevent a movement of the knob and effectively transfer a manipulation force of the knob to the cable switch assembly since the detent means is mounted on the holder adjacent to the knob.
2. Background Art
In general, an air conditioner for vehicles is a car interior component, which is installed in the vehicle heat for the purpose of cooling the inside of the vehicle in the summer season or the winter season or removing frost from a windshield in rainy season or winter season to thereby secure a driver's front and rear visual field. Since such an air conditioner typically includes an evaporator and a heater core together, so that it heats, cools or ventilates the inside of the vehicle through the steps of selectively introducing the inside air or the outside air to the air conditioner, heating or cooling the introduced air, and blowing the heated or cooled air to the inside of the vehicle through vents of an air-conditioning case.
In such an air conditioner, a mixed ratio of air passed the evaporator and air passed the heater core is controlled by a temperature-adjusting door, and air moving toward the vents is controlled in its discharge direction by mode doors respectively mounted on the vents. For instance, the air is controlled by a vent mode for discharging the air toward the upper part of a passenger's body, a foot mode for discharging the air toward the passenger's feet, a bi-level mode for simultaneously discharging the air toward the upper part of the passenger's feet and the passenger's feet, and a defrost mode for removing frost or steam from a vehicle window by discharging the air toward the vehicle window.
In order to set a predetermined mode out of the air-conditioning modes, a controller is mounted on a center fascia panel of the vehicle, and the controller includes various switches mounted on a housing fixed on the center fascia panel.
The switches are divided into a button type switch for allowing the passenger to press a button according to a selected operation mode, a lever type switch, in which a lever is joined at a position corresponding to a selected operation mode, and a rotary type switch for allowing the passenger to select an operation mode according to an angle position of a rotatable knob.
The button type switch controls a mode by regulating electric power supplied to the switch, and the rotary type switch is manufactured in such a way that the rotatable knob is assembled relative to a switch body, and in this instance, the rotary type switch can control the mode by corresponding the angle position of the knob with the operation mode of the switch body.
As shown in FIG. 1, the switch assembly 1 including the switches of various types has a structure that a plurality of the switches of different functions and structures are mounted on a housing 2. That is, an air volume switch 3 for adjusting a wind speed, a mode switch 4 for determining a discharge direction of air, a temperature-adjusting switch 5 for adjusting a wind temperature, and an air-conditioner switch (not shown) for turning on/off the air conditioner are mounted on one housing 2.
Furthermore, the rotary type switches such as the temperature-adjusting switch 5 and the mode switch 4 are divided into cable type switches and electric switches according to their operation methods. Hereinafter, only the cable type switch will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cable type rotary switch 10 generally includes: a gear shaft 20 having one end portion rotatably supported on a boss 12 formed on the inner bottom face of a housing 11; a gear lever 30 rotatably mounted on the circumference of the boss 12 in such a way as to be gear-coupled to the gear shaft 20, the gear lever 30 being connected with the temperature-adjusting door or a mode door of the air conditioner through a cable 40; and a knob 25 joined to an end portion of the gear shaft 20 protruding outwardly from the housing 11. The gear shaft 20 adopts a beveled tooth form and the gear lever 30 adopts an arced tooth form corresponding to the form of the gear shaft 20.
Moreover, the knob 25 protrudes toward the front of the housing 11 in such a way as to allow a driver to rotate it.
In the conventional cable type rotary switch 10 having the above structure, since the gear shaft 20 is rotated by the rotation of the knob 25 and the gear lever 30 gear-coupled to the gear shaft 20 is also rotated, the cable 40 connected to the gear lever 30 is moved back and forth in interlock with the gear lever 30. In this instance, when the cable 40 is moved back and forth, a cam and levers, which are mounted in the air conditioner and connected with the cable 40, are also rotated, and then, the temperature-adjusting door or the mode doors interlocked with the cam and the levers are actuated.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,866 discloses another example of the cable type rotary switch 50. Referring to FIGS. 3a and 3b, the cable type rotary switch disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,866 will be described in brief. The cable type rotary switch 50 according to the prior art includes: a control panel 51; a shaft 52 rotatably mounted on the control panel 51 and having a driving gear 53 formed on an outer circumferential face thereof; and a cable switch assembly 60 mounted behind the control panel 51 and connected with the driving gear 53 of the shaft 52 through a driven gear 62 formed at one side thereof in order to operate a pair of cables for controlling the air conditioner.
The cable switch assembly 60 includes: a housing 65 joined behind the control panel 51; a pulley 61 rotatably mounted on the housing 65 and gear-coupled with the driving gear 52 of the shaft 52 through the driven gear 62 formed on one side thereof; and a pair of cables 55 having one side wound on the pulley 61 and the other side connected with the air conditioner to control the air conditioner.
Accordingly, when the passenger rotates the shaft 2 in a forward direction or in a reverse direction, the pulley 61 of the cable switch assembly 60 connected with the driving gear 53 through the driven gear 62 is rotated. After that, when the pulley 61 is rotated in the forward direction or in the reverse direction, while the cables 55 are wound on or released from the pulley 61, the cam and the levers of the air conditioner connected with the other side of the cable 55 are rotated, and hence, the temperature-adjusting door and the mode doors interlocked with the cams and the levers are actuated.
In the meantime, the cable switch assembly 60 for controlling the air conditioner by winding or releasing the cables 55 on or from the pulley can be designed freely since there is no restriction in route of the cable 55.
As described above, the temperature-adjusting switch 5 and the mode switch 4 belong to the cable type rotary switch 50. In this instance, while the temperature-adjusting switch 5 does not have a detent structure, the mode switch 4 has the detent structure constructed in the cable switch assembly 60 to provide a suspension sense every mode position when the shaft 52 is rotated.
That is, the detent structure of the cable switch assembly 60 includes a detent portion 63 formed on the outer circumferential face of the pulley 61; and a detent spring 66 mounted on the housing 65, on which the pulley 61 is mounted, the detent spring 66 giving the suspension sense while elastically touching the detent portion 63.
Accordingly, when the passenger rotates the shaft 52, the detent spring 66 is elastically caught to the detent portion 63 of the pulley 61 during the rotation of the pulley 61, and hence, the passenger can more conveniently and exactly change a mode since the passenger can feel the suspension sense every specific rotational position (position of each mode) when the shaft 52 is rotated.
However, the conventional cable type rotary switch 50 has a problem in that it is impossible to use the cable switch assembly 60 to the temperature-adjusting switch 5 and the mode switch 4 in common since the detent structure is constructed inside the cable switch assembly 60.
That is, since the detent structure is formed integrally with the pulley 61, it is difficult to use the cable switch assembly 60 in common according to existence and nonexistence of the detent structure or positions of the detent structure, and hence, it increases a manufacturing cost.